Word: packed
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Reagan seemed to signal his uncertainty about the invulnerability of the Dense Pack system. His paper warned that if the Soviet Union tries to challenge the MX with "more powerful and deadly weapons," the U.S. will be able to add more silos near the proposed Dense Pack field and move some of the 100 MX missiles into them, adding a shell-game kind of deception. "We would prefer that the Soviets dismantle SS-18s [which can carry either ten 1-megaton warheads or a single 25-megaton monster] rather than we build more holes," Reagan said. "But we can accommodate...
...paper explaining his decision, Reagan conceded with great understatement that "deciding how to deploy the missile has not been easy." He described the Dense Pack plan only as "a reasonable way" to deter an attack. Theories on how the U.S.S.R. might find techniques to destroy the closely spaced MX missiles were dismissed as "technical dreams on which no Soviet planner or politician would bet the fate of his country...
...uncertainties about the MX and Dense Pack-whether either will work, whether the missile is a crucial need, a bargaining chip, or a weapon the Soviets will regard as a first-strike threat, in which case it will invite rather than deter attack-are all expected to be exploited by MX critics on Capitol Hill. With deficits soaring and budget cuts painful to pinpoint, the MX is a tempting target for legislators who read last month's elections as a mandate for defense cuts. The potentially bitter debate also follows recent victories at the polls by the nation...
...developing brawl could begin this week in the lameduck session of Congress. Either house can indefinitely delay the deployment of the missile by refusing to approve funds for the Dense Pack basing plan. A move in the House last July to cancel MX production failed to pass by a mere three votes. A similar measure in the Senate lost by just four. The Administration is expected to wage an all-out fight to gain funding in the lameduck session since the new House, with 26 more Democrats than the present body, is expected to be even less receptive...
...controlled Senate. "It's going to be very, very close," predicts one Senate insider. Texas Republican John Tower, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has praised Reagan for a "courageous" decision on the MX but has declined so far to endorse the basing mode. Opposition to Dense Pack is being led by South Carolina Democrat Ernest Rollings, an influential military hawk, who argues that "the Soviets would love nothing more than to see us throw away billions of dollars on a system that could be easily countered...